Raptors rack up huge win over Wizards

By Roger Lajoie

TORONTO (Reuters) - The Toronto Raptors crushed the Washington Wizards 122-83 on Wednesday, equaling the franchise record for their biggest winning margin and gaining revenge for an overtime loss to the same opponent a day earlier.

The 39-point margin matched Toronto's previous biggest win -- a 112-73 victory over Atlanta on April 12, 2002

A day after losing 108-104 in overtime to the Wizards in Washington, the Raptors rebounded with a dominating performance, shooting 57 percent and making 13-of-18 three-point shots.

Andrea Bargnani led the Raptors with 19 points, while Chris Bosh added 16 despite sitting out the fourth quarter. The Raptors held a 31-point lead after three quarters.

"After a bad game yesterday, we came back and played really good today," Bargnani said.

"We can be a very good basketball team when we rebound the ball and share the ball like we did tonight."

Bosh said the huge win showed how good the Raptors could be.

"I think we learned from this victory that we have the potential to be a really good team in this league," Bosh said.

"We can rebound, we can play good defense and we can score as well as the better teams in this league."

Anthony Parker chipped in with 15 points and Jose Calderon added 11 and 11 assists despite also not playing in the final 12 minutes.

Toronto (25-20) won a season-high sixth consecutive game at home and for the eighth time in the last 11 games overall.

DeShawn Stevenson led the Wizards (24-20) with 16 points, but Washington offered little resistance without the injured Caron Butler for the second game in a row.

"They played very well and we didn't play well at all," Washington coach Eddie Jordan said.

"We didn't play well right from the beginning and just couldn't get it going."

*The Miami Heat lost for the 17th time in 18 games, going down 107-91 to the Orlando Magic. Dwyane Wade, Shaquille O'Neal and Udonis Haslem all sat out with injuries for Miami (9-35).